Popular Misconceptions of SEO
Being an internet marketer for many years now I have heard some really out of whack misconceptions when it comes to SEO and how it helps grow a business online.
Here are some of the most important misconceptions of SEO that I think should be called out:
1. It is all Technical – Search engine optimization is only about 15-20% technical. The rest requires a marketing approach. Think about it, if you are trying to get rankings in the search engines don’t you have to put yourself in your audiences shoes and anticipate what they search for, what they read and what they want to see on your website? That requires a marketing hat.
2. Rankings Happen Quick – Search engine optimization is time and labor intensive. It takes time to get things moving in any direction. Nothing happens over night or even in one month or two.
3. I Only Need to Do It for 2 Months – SEO does not have a finish line. When you take a marketing approach to your SEO it is something you never really stop doing. Why would you stop marketing your company? You wouldn’t and that is why your SEO should never stop either. Rankings are not the only goal for search engine marketing. Building many relevant one way links is also a goal. This can only happen over time.
4. SEO Costs $39.95 – When it comes to search engine marketing you really get what you pay for. That doesn’t mean it should cost an arm and a leg but price should be appropriate to amount of work and man hours put into a certain effort in order to get it right. Prices that sound to good to be true usually are. Do you really think you can grow a business online successfully for the same cost as a cup of coffee per day?
5. SEO Software Should Do the Trick – Search engine optimization cannot be put on auto pilot by some software program. Some software’s are capable of isolating gaps or errors in your website or campaign but that still requires you as a business owner or marketer to make the necessary changes to get things moving in the right direction.
There are many misconceptions in the SEO industry and over time they should all be cleared up as the industry continues to mature and evolve. I only highlighted several that came to my mind, please feel free to share any that you may have heard.
40 Responses to “Popular Misconceptions of SEO”
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Good article I enjoyed it thanks for posting!
Great list, I particularly like the part about time and ranking happen quick . When I first started I was under the misconception that you put a site up and you would be making money in no time. How wrong was I. SEO takes time and a lot patience.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for reading and your comment. Yes, to do well long term, SEO does indeed need a great amount of patience and hard work…thanks again for reading!
Hi Nick,
Once again, great article! Love your “39,95USD paragraph”, oooh so true about how the price should be appropriate to the amount of work (and we know it’s more work then 39,95USD)!
For all my clients who ask me these same questions or have these misconceptions, they’ll get this URL in their inbox, haha! You’ve made life easier for me …
Thanks for sharing, Cheers & Ciao …
Hi Gonzo,
Thanks for reading and glad, I could provide a good reference for your $39.95 type questions
People often have misconceptions on what real SEO will cost them and it is definitely not going to be the price of a cup of coffee..
Missed just one: SEO is only for big companies with great budgets
Hi Ann,
Thanks for reading and the comment. Yes, SEO does cost much more than a cup of coffee
Hi Mark,
Excellent SEO misconception! This is not true at all, in fact SEO a medium that helps small and medium sized companies compete with larger companies…thanks for the comment!
Another misconception is that some want to keep their site layout and textual content intact and get top search engine rankings too!
I know what they thing the optimization process is. It’s tweaking the codes! What a wrong understanding of SEO.
Hi Website Promotion Blog,
This is so true! I have worked with clients in the past that are afraid to make on site optimization recommendations that I might recommend. But yet, they expect to have improved results from their SEO…can’t have your cake and eat it too!
Excellent post Nick…you hit the nail on the head.
One more for the list:
MYTH: Content alone will get my site to the top of search results.
FACT: You need both content AND backlinks to rank higher in search results, with the focus on backlinks.
Keep up the good work!
Tom
Nick,
Nice post. For those of us who have been in and around interactive for any period of time-we could likely take a nice vacation for two weeks if we had a dollar for every time we’ve heard any one of these comments! Like everything you do you get out of it, what you put into it-this includes web marketing!
Nice article. Jsut a quick question. Using backlinks in forums signauture links when the forums are PR 5+, but you are not an active member of the forum. Will this help with your rankings?
Another one: I Rank high for Some Keywords, Why not these others?
Every keyword is different in SERPS. Just because you rank high for one keyword term doesn’t mean you will rank high for other. While the algorithm is the same, there are basically no two keywords that have the exact same data ranking factors when comparing to competition and SERPs.
Your site may be optimized for One Keyword Phrase have back links for that phrase, and appear in SERPs but another phrase will have different competition and your Onsite optimization and Back links don’t carry over to highly rank the other terms.
Learn the SEO factors and how it all goes together, then implementing and SEO strategy will prove both successful for your client and your services.
Thanks for a really solid article. Here’s another misconception: SEO is overwhelming and requires too much work.
With a carefully crafted plan that includes time management, SEO can be wrangled for organizations of any size.
Good article…
Another one is clients GUARANTEED top ranking in every search engines permanently.
You are right that SEO is not particularly technical, it is much more about hard work, perseverance and re-invention.
You have to put in the grunt to get the ball rolling and sometimes you have to accept when a certain approach isn’t working. But you shouldn’t give up on a technique too quickly, results can take a little time.
Thanks for this article Nick.
I totally agree that there is so much misconceptions in SEO. There is also a great deal of misinformation. It’s amazing the amount of fake information that you can find in several places.
Keep up the good work.
Hi my name is Keith
it does make sense that you never really stop marketing your company, you’re always growing and seeking new ways of improvement!
At least you should be
Thanks….. nice post
Thanks for getting it back to basics and exposing these myths. You’re better off investing that $39.95 in a couple pounds of premium coffee and staying up to write optimized blog posts and comment on quality sites like, oh I don’t know, SEO Journal perhaps.
Great post, Nick. It is frustrating to see all of the SEO misconceptions out there and the various range of services among SEO companies. People are forgetting the importance of a website, which is to market the business through relevant and compelling content, not simply to rank #1 on Google for a keyword phrase.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for reading and excellent additional SEO misconceptions and thoughts!
Hi Nick B,
I like your comment about the a couple pounds of coffee…amen to that!
I like what you said about SEO being 80-85% marketing. If you don’t have decent content that delivers a message to your chosen market, no SEO program (regardless of cost) is going to magically create a stream of buyers to your website. I’m always amazed at people who think “internet marketing” has nothing to do with “good marketing”.
Hi George,
Thanks for reading and your comment…agreed, people do sometimes think that web marketing has nothing to do with good marketing. Anyway, I think that is another good misconception that could be added to the list!
Owh.. thank you so much..
Nice article. SEO is both an art and science. The science part is in the study of the methodology used in preparing and executing an SEO campaign.
The art part is determining what works for the different search engines and when to adjust the SEO methodologies in order to capture the scoring algorithms of Google and other major search engines.
Hi Nick, now it’s a habit for me to read your articles everyday, and I have sent many links of your articles to my clients when they ask me for seo learning materials. Thanks a lot for sharing so informative content with us.:)
You have certainly hit the nail right on Nick- but the encoraging part for small business owners is that you can take charge of optimizing you own Internet marketing and SEO. It does not require a professional
You mean SEO isn’t magic? Gee, I wonder who spreads those rumors? Could it be sleazy marketers trying to push their ineffective products and tactics? Marketers who wish to take advantage of customers who lack the knowledge to make wise decisions about a subject that is not exactly what I’d call complex but can be made to seem so and is most certainly ripe for misinterpretation and gimmicks.
Thanks for setting the record straight Mr. Stamoulis. You give us power against SEO misinterpretation and gimmicks. Not to mention lies.
Your #1 fan,
Lorraine
Great note on SEO! I am an SEO pro also. I agree with you. I would like to voice against submissions through software.
So true… Brands are spending millions in TV or magazine advertising and feel offended when it comes to allocate a $20.000 budget for SEO!
Spot on. Some good straighforward points there.
Hi Lorraine,
Thanks for commenting and for being such a great loyal reader (and #1 fan!
A very good post. Another misconception is “Autopilot Money Making Machine” for GURUS that promote systems on autopilot.
Hi Jimi,
This is very true, from my experience there is nothing really that can be on “autopilot” when it comes to SEO!
Very good article. I have enjoyed serveral of the emails you hvae sent out and this one really lets business owners know exactly why they shouldnt buy from the ones who say $50 a month…lol
Keep up the great work Nick!
Lorraine C. Grula: You are so right. I have worked for serveral companies including DEX Media (DEX Yellow Pages, dexknows.com) and Gannett (USATODAY, Carerrbuilder.com, Cars.com etc)to name a few. It does seem like a lot of the top companies are spreading the word about their inferior product and bashing those who send real results in the process (SEO/SEM Companies).
Truth is if you find an SEO/SEM expert you will see your investment grow better than any stock portfolio ever could.
I agree 110% with you Nick “Search engine optimization is only about 15-20% technical” if you dont know anything about marketing you really shouldnt be involved in the SEO/SEM business.
Great article. I look forward to more!
Hi Michael,
Thanks for reading and your kind words!
Hi Website Marketing Company,
Thanks for stopping by and your comment so very true about the large companies selling their inferior SEO and SEM products. It is a shame that many of them try to scale SEO services in way that it should not be scaled…
Thanks for shining light on this topic that is murky for many. I built my business around the idea of building trust by improving face-to-face communication. I’ve always warned people to be wary of mass impersonal communication and to remember the importance of word-of-mouth created by relationship building.
Social media IS two-way communication, so I find it an exciting new way to build relationships. My addition to your thoughts is that we should use social media for communication, not selling.
Hi Jack,
You are right on the money, social media marketing is for communication not for selling. I personally think that social media is a long term relationship builder as well…